Life of a Hero
by sudeepsonofposeidon
Summary: Some say true heroes are invunerable,undefeatable. They say death and destruction follows them everywhere,that they are the hands of justice..what they don't know is their weaknesses. Perseus jackson aka percy,is the mightiest demigod of the era,some say even better than Hercules himself..But the things that he has seen can drive any man to insanity,him included..
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOUGE: THE BEGINNING OF THE END PART I**

His hands were trembling...he tried to hold them still but it was in vain. Pain, darkness,torture all closed upon him cocooning him in his own little shell, slowly leaching out his life. He was strong, yet he was weak, loyal and kind yet sadistic,sane yet insane...

Oh how he tried to resist the flood of memories that invaded his mind every night leaving him writhing with raw fear from his visions..every single night.

He was indestructible, unkillable, the ultimate hero...oh the names people gave him, it almost brought a smile on his face...almost.

What they never knew were his inner conflicts, his inner torture, his inner weakness; his insanity.

He had lived for those he had called his friends, fought for them, sacrificed everything he held dear for them..but what did he get in return?

A normal life?some time with his supposed girlfriend? No!

What happened to the young, carefree, slightly dumb loyal friend and hero you ask? Well in simple words he was betrayed.

Betrayed by them all his friends, the gods, his own dad...and it was then that his world came crashing down, then that he realised how insignificant he was to others.

Time seemed to stop as he fell back into his reminisces, the day he realised how true gaea's words had been, how much of a pawn he had been, just a means to an end, a liability...

《Flashback...flashback...》

"Perce!", leo's voice blared in the intercom," we are nearing Olympus I dont think you would want to miss it".

Percy was awake in a flash. He did not want to miss it. The gods explained to them where Olympus was and how it was heavily shrouded in mist to prevent the mortals from noticing it much like camp half-blood.

Percy put on his favourite CHB shirt, while simultaneosly brushing his teeth and trying(and failing miserably)to comb his messy hair. Within a minute he was at the top deck, where his friends had already gathered clutching the railings with wide eyes.

Rubbing the last hints of sleep from his eyes he stepped up to the railings besides annabeth making to look in the direction where his friends' gazes were fixed upon. However, what he saw made him draw his breath sharply and pinch himself, making sure this wasn't a dream.

Even the thick fog over the foliage could not dampen the grandeur of mother nature. Miles and miles of meadows stretched before them, looking so majestic and untouched by humans. It seemed like each and every grass blade managed to capture the sun's rays and throw it back at them in a colourful disarray of lights. At every few yards the meadow was encircled by flowers of so many colours and shapes that it was hard to tear his eyes away from them. And at the far end of the meadow they could see a huge structure looming up between two gigantic mountains, the famed gates of Olympus

As the argo 2 touched down a few rabbits scurried away from its landing spot. To percy they seemed livelier, brighter, much more full of life. And he knew that he just couldnt wait to see olympus.

"Guys!", leo called, but no one answered. "Guysss!", he called again in a much louder tone. "What?", piper hissed unable to tear her eyes away from the sight.

"We need to get a move on. We dont know what dangers might lurk here. It would be better if we encamped inside olympus.. the gods did promise us a temporary sanctuary".

Piper raised one eyebrow in disbelief, " that was actually a smart idea leo"

Leo huffed indignantly," yeah thank you piper for your oh-so-ever-welcome sarcasm but we should really get going", he finished, taking the lead. The remaining six exchanged a glance before following leo.

Percy was tired of the walking. He had thought the distance was small from above but they had been walking for three hours and had only covered half the distance. Apparentl everything had been made to fit godly sizes, even the few trees at the far end of the horizon looked at least three times bigger.

"Couldn't you have parked closer Leo", Percy asked, too tired to even sound angry.

"I did try", Leo said from the front," but there was a magical barrier".

Percy didnt say anything afterwards. He hoped that when the giants arrived they too would tire out from the walk and give up... wishful thinking.

Finally after another two gruelling hours of trudging along the 20 feet tall olympian gates appeared, but the way was blocked by a similar sized clay women...even percy could guess who she was.

"Gaea", he growled uncapping his sword. He could sense the others stiffen beside him, weapons already in hand.

"You really think you can kill a primordial godess who hasn't even woken up", she rasped, her voice sounding like the grinding of gravel." I cant attack you all in this state demigods. Why do you think I need the giants. I come here with another purpose"

"Well what is it", Jason barked out," you know we don't trust you Gaea so wht waste our time."

"Ah trust", Gaea said tasting the word in her mouth as she said it out loud, " trust is very relative demigods. You never know when it may change". Then her two mud hands clasped each other and she looked at them with what percy could make out to be a malicious smile." As for my purpose, that's simple. I want to make a deal"

As she finished she looked pointedly at percy with a muddy smirk which sent shivers down his spine and at that moment Percy felt like someone was walking on his grave.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**So, should I continue...did you'll think the prologue was good enough. Any ideas what kind of deal it is;-)...any constructive criticism..**

**Pls tell me all about it. Hopefully it was good enough:)**


	2. chp 2

**So here's the second part of the prolougue. Thanks for all the reviews,alerts,favourites..they go a long way in inspiring me:)**

**Epic reads: I am happy I could spark your curiosity. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Guest: You wanted more? Well here it is**

**One imp. Note: the beginning is back in the present time. And everything is not as it seems;)**

**Prolouge II :-The beginning of the end part II**

Percy was standing at the edge of a cliff, all he could see below were blood red clouds. The wind was howling angrily in his ears, pushing against him, trying to topple him over. He didn't know where he was or what was he doing. His hands instinctively went to his pockets for riptide, but there was nothing there. Terror seized his heart. He was weaponless and defensless against whatever brought him here.A hollow laugh filled the murky air, growing louder by the second until he wasn't able to bare it anymore.

He fell down to his knees, his hands shielding his ears. "Stop it!", he screamed, but the voice remained stuck in his throat. The intensity of the voice only increased and Percy felt for a second that his eardrums were going to rip apart. The laughter was eerily haunting, and there was sense of familiarity in it. He knew he had heard it before but couldn't place when

The next moment the laughter ceased,followed by silence almost as if the voice had never been there...

Percy whipped his head around trying to find the source but the sight before him sent chills down his body . He had been so focused on the clouds and the voice, that he hadn't even looked behind.

The sight that greeted him was one of gore and pain...it was a battlefield. Bodies were strewn all over the place,some with spears through them, others impaled on swords, all with convulsed look on their faces as if they had known about their death beforehand. A red liquid was leeking out of them...blood;so much of it that Percy wanted to puke but he restrained himself. He tried to look at the faces or what was left of them. A few seemed familiar, but he just couldn't place them.

All of a sudden he realised that the flow of blood had changed direction, all the small streams were now flowing towards him, forming a pool of blood in front of him. Percy was too stunned to react as the laughing resumed, the malevolent edge to it now clearly visible. The blood began rising, trying to form various shapes until it settled into one...that of Luke Castellan.

But Percy new that it was not a way to potray luke, but Kronos,the titan of time and his old enemy. The liquid head tilted its head sideways as if upraising Percy.

"Well Perseus Jackson, we meet again", the voice in the air said.

The hair on Percy's body stood upright as he recognized the voice. The liquid body hadn't moved but its face had, as if trying to form the words the voice had said. "Kronos...", he spluttered completely stunned.

The liquid Kronos seemed to raise an eyebrow at him, or thats what it looked like. He couldn't really tell.

"Seems like you have grown smarter since we last met. U see I had a lot of things planned for my victory. I had been waiting for aeons for the chance to reclaim my throne and I had just about achieved it when YOU",the voice spat out while the blood turned an even darker shade of red,"snatched it from my hands. I then truly began to hate you Jackson. No longer did I need my throne, all i needed was revenge on YOU"

The air seemed to grow heavier with the last line.

A manical smile stretched across blood Kronos. "But look at you now. What are you now"

"Nothing"

The voice was now somehow in Percy's brain, screaming at him from the inside,making him feel every word it was saying, torturing him with visions.

"Nobody"

Percy fell to the floor again, screaming in agony, the voice going to a higher decibel with each word.

"Betrayed, thrown away, unwanted,insignificant"

"Noooo!", Percy screamed, unable to handle it any longer and broke down crying.

With a satisfied smirk the blood Kronos whispered one more thing in his head,"broken..."

Percy woke up with a scream on his lips. He was completely covered in sweat and his head was throbbing. He looked around, checking for any sign of kronos or blood or bodies, but everything around him looked normal.

So it was just a dream, ...just another one of his nightmares. He knew something was wrong with him. Everybody thought he was insane, a hero gone rogue. And sometimes he even began to doubt whether their words were true, whether he had truly lost his sanity. But there was no time for this; he had to move, and quickly so. He could sense that they were nearing.

He got up and looked around, taking in his surroundings for the last time. The bed and the floor were rickety and old, like they would break off any minute, but he couldn't bring himself to regret this place. This was as near to a proper home as he had gotten in the last two years. Atleast this was better than sleeping inside dustbins and mouldy boxes.

He went to the small opening in the side of the wall and looked out at the long expanse of fields that stretched out before him. Oh how he wished he could enjoy this pleasure. There was a time when pleasure, to him, meant time with his friends and girlfriend; now living was the greatest pleasure of all. He turned back to the room, stuffing his few remaining belongings in his backpack. No time for freshening up, not when they were hot on his heels.

He turned the rusted doorknob and stepped out into the cool air, basking in the last few rays of sunlight before sunset. Fortunately, the manager had shown him mercy and allowed him to live in the motel for a few days free of cost. A sudden noise to the left made him spin around, riptide already in hand, but there was nothing there.

He knew he was being paranoid, but better paranoid than dead. The run-down motel provided a good break for a few days, but now he had to be back on the run. Getting caught was not an option.

With a last look at the dilapidated inn, he began trudging along the muddy road in the general direction of west,gazing at the horizon, tears already forming in his eyes as they always did when he was about to slip into his memories. Shouldering the bag, he walked of towards the sunset, towards his last resort,and his only refuge, his second chance. The place where he knew his only ally was waiting.

He was in the middle of Kansas with little or no chance of surviving until he reached his destination. Why you ask?, simply because he was a man-on-the-run, not from monsters,but from his own kith and kin, the Olympians and their children, including his girlfriend and dad.

** 《****Flashback... . ...flashback》**

"I want to make a deal", those words of Gaea kept repeating in his mind. He felt like it was a premonition of something, something bad that was going to happen to him.

A lot of 'you expect us to believe that?!' and 'I'd rather eat my pants(courtesy of leo)' were thrown about but something told Percy that they wouldn't be able to make it past her without hearing her out.

Though he knew was going to regret this, mustering up his courage, he asked,"Well I would have gladly refused , but since I don't think you will let us pass through, there's no choice, is there?"

"Rightly guessed son of Poseidon, I still have enough power to delay your entry long enough for my giants to reach, they are not far as you'll think; as for the deal..."

"Don't trust her Percy. She has something planned", Annabeth whispered in his ears.

"Well go on", he urged Gaea, if her grand plan was to keep them engaged in talking, it was not going to work.

Gaea smiled knowingly," I am waiting for the...aahh oppurtune moment".

Something about Gaea's words were constantly disturbing him, like he was missing a significant piece of the puzzle. Suddenly there was a sharp drop in temperature as a cold wind blew their way...wait a cold wind at this time of the year in greece? That should have set of his alarms, but Gaea quickly distracted him.

"So the deal? I will not wake if you give Percy Jackson to me".

All Percy could do was stare at her indreculously. "Ummm...sure great deal gaea",he said, his voice filled with sarcasm. After all the planning you are just gonna give up, in return for me? Gaea if this was your grand scheme,then you are dumber than a minatour and thats saying something".

However Gaea's smirk,if possible,only widened. "Since it concerns you mortal, you don't have a choice in it. I ask the rest of the prophecised seven and the gods."

Percy couldn't control himself from bursting into laughter. But he soon stopped when he realised that the only one laughing was him. It dawned on him that the rest had not spoken since the deal had been mentioned. That was really odd. Usually they would be the first to mock gaea.

He looked around him," Guys whats taking you all so long?, let's just get this over with and leave". That was when he noticed the blank stares on their faces. Something was wrong, really, really wrong.

I turned to Annabeth," Wise girl, come on we have to enter Olympus, we don't have enough time". Annabeth turned towards her and there was a sudden flash of gold in her eyes, before resuming their normal grey colour.

Now all of his friends faces turned to face him, and he was horrified by the look on their faces . An unearthly smile was plastered on them, so wide that it should have been painful for any human. Then Jason stepped forward, an evil glint in his eye. "We agree".

There it was again , another flash of gold, now in Jason's eye. And his expression, he had never seen such cruelty in him before. He was so immersed in his thoughts that it took him a moment to register his words. "What!", Percy stepped back, there was something seriously wrong with them. The golden flashes, the wierd expressions, he had seen it before, but where?

"He began backing away, but Leo and Piper were too quick, they caught his hands, twisting it behind his back and pushed him down to the ground. He kept convincing himself that they were not themselves, that someone was forcing them to do this,but it was proving to be really difficult. The gods hadn't even intervened yet, does this mean they approved?

A flurry of emotions was running through him, but he knew he had to focus, he had to find time to figure this out. This time there were no smart girlfriends to come up with a plan or reformed friends to sacrifice themselves. This time it was just him, fighting for his own life.

Pushing down all the hurt and anger he felt, he said to Gaea in a level voice," Then I would like one last request. I would like to iris-message my mom from the ship and before you cut me off, it is necessary that I do so from the ship. My reasons are my own. You can send two escorts if you want."

Each second of his speech, he felt like screaming with frustration, especially when he had to call his friends 'escorts'. But he kept calm. He had gotten the extra time he wanted and there was no way he was going to lose his only oppurtunity for escape.

Gaea looked surprised, probably shocked by his indifference," Granted". Then her smile returned," You are but a child in front of me mortal, I will give you your last request, but take heed when I say that your sufferings have not even begun yet. Leave any hope of survival."With that, the mud figure splattered onto the ground.

After a very long and tedious walk, they had reached the trireme. Jason and Hazel were the ones holding his hands, while the rest were waiting a little way back . Till the time they had reached the trireme, Percy had tried to figure out what had happened, but it seemed like that memory was just out of his grasp. Added to that, the betralyal of the Olympians had rattled him more than he wished. Surely they would have intervened by now if they were on his side. And what was Gaea's plan? There was no way she will promise to not wake up.

He was shaken out of his reverie as he noticed a streak of auburn hair and brown eyes inside the trireme before it vanished.

Strangely, his entourage stopped. He looked back at them, only to find blank stares on their faces. Well atleast they were decent enough to give him privacy.

He ran into the trireme. He had fair idea who was waiting there and he did not want to miss her. Just as he had suspected, a nine year old girl with auburn hair and brown eyes,stood by the hearth, stoking the fire.

"Lady Hestia", he spat, out unable to control his emotions, "how could you gods-". Before he could go on, she cut him off." Wait Perseus, there is a lot you don't know and I dont have time to explain. Now listen carefully, nobody supported the deal other than Zeus. We are short of time so let me speak. We gods can help our demigods, but can provide only limited help. Take for example Zeus. He gave Thalia her weapons and saved her life by turning her into a tree, that alone exhausted most the help he could provide. That is why he could rarely ever help her after that. Such is the case with all the Olympians. But not me. I have never helped any demigod before, so, with a lot of difficulty, I can send you to Rome, but that would mean I won't be able to help you again anytime soon. You will have to survive without my help and find out the answers by yourself."

"And why should I trust you?", Percy asked cautiously, a hint of suspicion seeping into his voice".

"Becaue you have no other choice. Now go! They are coming. Just run into the fireplace and you will find yourself in Rome. But don't stop there. Keep moving. I will meet you in the land of the Hesperides. Dont give up hope yet child".

Every logic told him not to trust her, but Percy had never been a big fan of logic. He made to run into the fireplace but curiosity stopped him. He had to know something before he was ready to take this journey.

"What is controlling my friends lady Hestia?"

Hestia sighed," look deep into your mind Perseus. You are not as stupid as people make you out to be. Now go! They will reach here any second; you have been here too long."

Those words, they seemed to click something in Percy's mind. Finally he realised what had happened. There were still a lot of holes in his theory, but it seemed the only plausible explanation. He stepped into the now empty fireplace, as the pattering of feet became louder.

There was only one thought in his mind as the door opened and he began to disappear.

"Eidolons".

Hestia stood by the fireplace shaking her head sadly,"Poor child, his adventures have not even begun yet. He has been through too much at such a young age. The hero of Olympus, reduced to this by our own arrogance. But the hearth will always be behind him". With a final glare at the eidolons that had burst into the room, she too vanished in a gold light.

**But if it was eidolons all along and percy knows then why does he think he has been betrayed? And how can the eidolons possess the six of the seven so easily?****Or is there more to the story;) **

**Any guesses on whats happening? Please do tell. I really like to know how the others interpret my stories and what are their ideas.**

**P.s.: next chp will finally introduce 'her'. And fyi, this will not be a 'joining/becoming guardian of the hunt' story. There will be Pertemis but in a non ooc manner and in a completely different way. Lastly ' happy thanksgiving all '. Signing out**

** -SSOP**


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